Remembering Our Past: Rev. Bishop and Elizabeth Covell
Phanuel Bishop Covell, Jr., was born in Worcester, MA in 1927. He was the son of a Baptist minister and came from a musical family; music became his passion.
He attended Classical High School in Worcester, MA. He received an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Gordon College in 1945 and a graduate degree from Gordon Theological Seminary in 1952.
Elizabeth was born in Dover, NH in 1927 and spent her earlier years in Worcester, MA. Eventually, she and her family moved to Maine and she graduated from Waterboro High School in 1945. After high school, she settled in Boston and completed her Nursing Degree at the New England Baptist Hospital School of Nursing in 1949.
Bishop and Elizabeth were married in Alfred, Maine, in June of 1950. Bishop was a Baptist Minister at the time. The couple began their married life in an apartment in Brighton, MA, and served at First Baptist Church of Peabody, MA, from 1950 to 1957. They served at the Court Street Baptist Church in Auburn from 1957 to 1968 and the Warwick Central Baptist Church in Warwick, RI, from 1968 to 1993. In 1972, Bishop also co-founded of Cornerstone Geriatric Care Center in Rhode Island.
In 1993, Bishop and Elizabeth retired and moved permanently to the Cape, settling in their summer home in Eastham and becoming active members of Brewster Baptist Church. Bishop also served as a member of the Cape Cod Interfaith Council, chaplain in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, Lieutenant Colonel in the Civil Air Patrol and a member of the Cape Cod Amateur Ham Radio Club.
Even in retirement the depth of their ministry to others continued. Bishop and Elizabeth quickly became integral members of Brewster Baptist. They began singing in the choir right away and it was always special when Elizabeth and Bishop would sing duets together.
They became active members of the Men’s Fellowship and Women’s Fellowship, each leading those ministries for a number of years.
By 1994, Bishop began serving as the vice-chairperson of the Board of Missions, and Bishop, along with his long-time friend, Edna Smith, joined the first adult mission trip to Puerto Rico in 1999.
A couple years later, both Bishop and Elizabeth went on the mission trip to Anniston, AL.
As part of her leadership role in the Women’s Fellowship, Elizabeth helped get the women involved with the American Baptist Women’s Ministries and supporting the White Cross.
Elizabeth formed a group called the “Holy Rollers” – every year, they would cut strips of white sheets and roll hundreds of bandages that would be sent, along with White Cross hygiene kits that they assembled, to missionaries around the world.
In later years, after ministries were restructured, Elizabeth joined the Mission and Outreach Core Ministry to continue this work, representing and organizing the mission to the White Cross. Elizabeth remained a faithful and devoted member of the Mission Team into the final years of her life.
We are approaching Christmas Eve services, when, each year, we receive the Retired Ministers and Missionaries Offering. Elizabeth was always so moved to receive one of the “Thank You” checks given by the American Baptist Churches, USA, to retired ministers, missionaries and their widowed spouses, for devoting their lives to the spread of the Gospel. BBC has often been one of the top contributors to this offering. In one January Beacon Elizabeth shared the following:
“Dear Friends, I count it a wonderful blessing to be a member of Brewster Baptist – to share in the programs and activities, to have made so many friends who have, through the years of our retirement, been so caring and loyal.
The RMMO Thank You offering has been a great source of blessing to me as well as others, and I’m so grateful for your participation. May God continually bless you all.
Fondly, Elizabeth Covell”
Elizabeth passed away peacefully on December 26, 2023, after spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, her favorite holiday, surrounded by her family, including many of her 6 children, 13 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren. She was a role model of human kindness for all who were blessed to know her and her memory will stay with each of us until we meet her and Bishop again in Heaven.